Special Mission
by Karl E.E. Ting
Summary: A slave on Tatooine who has turned to thievery so he can get off the planet has just gotten a special assignment: the destruction of a wear house. But things never go quite as planned, and special skills never go unnoticed. My first finished story, Read a
1. Part one

-1-  
  
The last light from Tatooine's twin suns slowly dwindled away as the red orbs disappeared behind the many small businesses and stock houses of the desert planet. It was almost time to move.  
  
Harn quickly gathered his things together and shoved them into a thick backpack, most of the items were illegal, all were meant for one purpose: To get Harn off Tatooine before he rotted or just became so used to the slaves life he accepted it.  
  
Pressing a tan colored button on his wall, Harn made sure the small room's door was locked before he quickly hauled off his greasy coveralls and began getting into his black shirt and pants, his special clothes for the little 'errands' he ran every night.  
  
When he was ready, Harn pulled his coveralls back on and lifted one of the backpack's straps over his shoulder, giving his chronometer a quick glance to see if it was time. It was still a little early, but something seemed to tug at him, telling him he needed to leave now.  
  
"Mom, I'm going to go check on some stuff! I'll be back by supper time!" Harn yelled as he sprinted down the hall, he had to be quick or she would stop him and inquire where exactly he was going, and he really did hate to lie to her.  
  
There was no answer but Harn didn't notice as he jabbed the open button for the thick front door of his house and dodged outside, barely pressing the button to close the door again before grabbing a jut-out part of the balcony above him and swinging his body up.  
  
Harn didn't look like much, he was only about 5' 7" and he was skinny, but almost every ounce of his wiry frame was muscle, thanks to all his 'errands', and he was used to lifting his own body weight plus whatever parts he had stolen.  
  
That was his job, stealing parts from one wear house and getting them into another. A very illegal and very risky business, but it paid enough to keep him and his mother alive and to leave some for saving, although his mother didn't know about the saving either.  
  
Without even having to think about it, Harn crouched down for a second and then jumped up, catching the edge of the roof almost ten feet over his head and then swinging up. It was exhilarating being up above streets and exhilarating running from the toughs that were hired to make sure he didn't get away; more than one person wanted him dead, or at least horribly mutilated.  
  
"I think it's safe to get into gear." Harn said softly to himself and opened the backpack he wore.  
  
Harn pulled some things out of the backpack and then quickly took off his coveralls, stuffing them into the backpack and tossing the pack aside before quickly taking up his gear and strapping it on, most importantly his visor and the strip of black cloth that went around the lower half of his face. The cloth was cheap but the visor had not been.  
  
Standing, Harn began to go through some slow and careful stretches designed to limber up. People never thought about that part of thieving, always assuming thieves just sprinted in and sprinted out, or maybe other thieves didn't do this; either way Harn always made sure he was ready to move and move quickly without hurting himself.  
  
When the first trickle of sweat ran down Harn's forehead, he stopped stretching and surveyed the surrounding rooftops carefully, even though he already knew what he would see. It was five feet to the next rooftop but Harn knew he could make it, even without the boosters attached to his legs.  
  
Nodding to himself, Harn sprinted across the rooftop and kicked powerfully off the edge, engaging his boosters only for a split second to make just he didn't land too jarringly, and then he sprinted again, already knowing exactly how far it was to the next roof, and then the one after that, and the one after that. It was all the same night after night, unless it was like tonight and he had a special mission. Tonight he was supposed to get into one of the older wear houses and actually blow it up. The company that owned it refused to tear it down or sell it so another company that wanted to build a new store at that location decided a little nudge would be needed to convince the owner to sell.  
  
The suns were both gone now and darkness covered everything, allowing Harn to be almost invisible in his black clothes. Be he was not totally invisible; some one else was also on the rooftops that night.  
  
Harn had no idea anything was wrong until a flying side kick sent him sprawling across the rough stone building-top, scrapping some skin off the fingers that extended from his half-gloves and stunning him momentarily, the only thing that saved the side of his face from a bad skinning was the visor's edge and the cloth mask.  
  
"Now what is a lad like you doing leaping from roof to roof after dark?" a cool and deep voice came from the shadows near Harn.  
  
Harn rolled over onto the side that hadn't been kicked and peered about into the shadows, his visor was broken so he took it off carefully and casually tossed it aside; not quite so casually as he made it look, Harn was hoping he had tossed it at the voice and that might give the speaker away by bouncing off or something, but no luck.  
  
"What I do after dark is no business of yours, and kicking me isn't a good way to get answers." Harn said, silently sliding backwards and crawling up onto his hands and knees, ignoring the pain that radiated from his unprotected and scraped fingers.  
  
"So you were not planning to-." The voice began to question, but they had done exactly as Harn hoped, they had spoken; and Harn gave them no time to finish their sentence.  
  
Harn pressed two buttons and grappling hooks shot out of the holders on his wrists, wrapping around something and causing a cry of shock as Harn yanked back and pulled whoever it was over. Then, swiftly cutting the ropes, Harn whirled and sprinted on again. He was curious to find out who his attacker was, but he would much rather get away intact.  
  
Not using the boosters again created a few near misses on the larger jumps, and hard landings on the shorter ones, but at least Harn was fairly sure his attacker couldn't follow him without the tale-tell red flare of the boosters. 


	2. Part two

-2- Five minuets later, Harn laid low and peered over the edge of the roof he was on. His "target" was just in front of him and it looked like the owners were ready for him. Two tough looking rodins were hanging around and if the faint light coming from inside the building was any clue there were more inside.  
  
Reaching into one of the small containers attached to his belt, Harn pulled out some spare hooks and tied them to what was left of his grappling line; some rope was better than none.  
  
Harn reached down and pulled a small stun-rod off his belt, activating it and watching the two Rodins movements to see if there was a pattern. After a while he gave up though, they just seemed to be moving randomly, covering the perimeter of the building and checking every now and then to make sure no one was sneaking in by a side door.  
  
Before he jumped to the target roof, Harn threw a small rock across the gap between him and the other roof. It made a light tapping noise but nothing else so Harn assumed he could make a fairly quiet landing.  
  
The two rodians would occasionally speak quietly to one another and Harn waited till they began talking again before jumping. Harn gave a quiet grunt and jumped, twisting his body so that he came down painfully, but more quietly, on his shoulder and rolled up to his feet. Harn was almost positive the guards hadn't heard him.  
  
Leaning over the edge, Harn turned the stun rod to full power and hooked one of his grapplers to the roof's edge. Taking a deep breath, Harn carefully lined the rod up, and then dropped it, leaping off himself with a quick prayer that the rod would hit its target.  
  
The first Rodin dropped unconscious as the rod landed square on his head and the other fell a second later as Harn landed in front of him and delivered a series of swift blows with his palms. He had been almost noiseless except for the zapping sound of the rod, Harn was sure there hadn't been enough sound to alert any one who might be inside. This was going very well.  
  
Turning the rod off, Harn reattached it to his belt and swiftly pulled himself up hand over hand on the thin rope till he was back on the roof. It appeared there was a sky light of sorts, for making air deliveries most likely, and as Harn coiled the rope back up into his gauntlet, he pondered how to use it. There was sure to be an alarm if the thing was opened from outside. So it looked like he would either have to try sneaking through the main or possibly side door.  
  
Harn bent over the skylight and looked down into the wear house. Four rodians were inside, playing cards on a crate-top and obviously drinking. This would be hard, Harn didn't want to just kill them, and come to think of it he had better drag those two others away from the building before it blew. Perhaps if they were drunk he could drop through the roof, slap the explosive on a crate, and get them to chase him out into the street. The alarm would go off but if he was quick enough he could easily get away.  
  
The vibro-blade he had sheathed into his boot sank deep into the clear material and easily cut a circle large enough for him to drop through. Harn carefully cut with his blade slanting away from him so the circle wouldn't fall before he was ready for it to do so. He planned to jump on top of it, causing it to fall through, and then use his boosters to land softly, plant the explosive, and get out.  
  
Harn resheathed his knife and took a few calming breaths, envisioning it in his mind till he was sure how and when to do each part of the plan. An easy enough plan. nothing to worry about.  
  
Leaping up as high as he could, Harn crashed down on the circle full force. and waited. nothing happened except that the rodians looked around, too drunk to realize that the noise came from above them.  
  
With a sigh Harn began to step off. and the circle fell with a snapping sound, catching Harn off guard and tumbling him down. 


	3. Part three

-3-  
  
For a split second Harn was completely disoriented; but then an image flashed in his head and he swung his legs around, firing the boosters and miraculously straightening his body out so that he stopped in mid air for a few seconds. The boosters whined with the strain of even Harn's lightweight and Harn began to rise a little before he cut them off and dropped down right into the middle of the rodians. And they might have been drunk, but they were also not happy drunks.  
  
Harn wore two blasters at his side and he suddenly decided this would be a good time to forget how guilty he would feel if he used them on some one.  
  
The blasters seemed to leap from their holsters a second before Harn actually touched them and he dropped two of the four without actually having to aim, rushing through the sudden gap and diving ungracefully behind one of the heavy crates.  
  
The explosive. they would surely leave him if he tossed the explosive, even if it didn't actually go off.  
  
Harn lobbed the explosive, quickly activating its "wall" mode, which caused it to latch onto one of the containers and sink several metal hooks in to hold on.  
  
There was some frantic squeaking and the sound of the roden's boots quickly faded as the sound of the big door being opened echoed through out the wear house.  
  
With a self-satisfied grin, Harn stood and began to dust himself off. But then froze, watching the timer tick and his face turning to a mask of horror.  
  
"10. 9. 8. 7." the timer beeped.  
  
Spinning on his heel, Harn dropped his blasters into their holsters, launching what was left of his grappling hooks, and crouched down; giving an adrenalin aided leap, and activating his boosters, he pulled on the ropes, straining for all the speed and momentum he could get. The opening was too small. but some how he managed to make it through the hole.  
  
Behind him there was a booming noise and Harn allowed his momentum to carry him on higher, cutting the grappler ropes and kicking the boosters on to the maximum, it was about to get very. exciting.  
  
The shock wave didn't hit Harn too hard, he was already moving upwards and at a fairly fast speed. But he certainly wasn't going to be slowing down any time soon.  
  
The city seemed so far below him, and it was actually a very pretty sight, but he had to focus and figure out what to do when he started going down.  
  
Harn switched off his boosters; they were only taking him higher, and watched the city below him start to get closer. and closer. A lot faster.  
  
"Please let me time this right." Harn prayed and saw that if he continued at this angle he would land on a roof, hopefully gently.  
  
"Now!" Harn said to himself and reengaged his boosters, almost instantly slowing down. Well this was working out right, now all he had to do was keep from over-balancing and coming down smack on his head.  
  
Two well aimed blaster-bolts smashed through Harn's leg rockets and a third one brushed his shoulder close enough to make his skin blister. The two rodian's who had gotten away no doubt. 'It's such a shame mom is gona have to find out this way.' Harn thought calmly, his heart still beating wildly but his mind clear enough.  
  
Harn vaguely thought he saw someone else on the roof for a second before his legs connected with the surface of the roof and the first jolt of pain brought blackness.  
  
"Well it was certainly quite a leap, I'd guess his legs are broken and. Blaster bolts, is he coming to already?" an odd voice drifted into Harn's mind as his eyes fluttered open, he didn't feel any pain, but then again he also couldn't feel anything else and trying to move his head only brought the slightest twitch of movement.  
  
"It's alright." The deep voice of his former attacker was still as calm as ever, although now it seemed to hold a touch of worry. "We gave you painkillers but I'm afraid you won't be able to move for a few days. You would be dead now if you hadn't used the force."  
  
"The force?" the words came out of Harn's mouth slightly jumbled and barely above a whisper.  
  
"Yes, the force. I could feel you using it when you jumped onto the roof I was on earlier, I thought that only a dark Jedi would be using the force to jump from roof-to-roof and headed in my general direction. That's why I attacked you." A face came into Harn's range of vision and even though it was blurred, it looked friendly enough, a touch long but with wide smile- wrinkles.  
  
"I." Harn's mind was still fuzzy and he couldn't think of what to say next, a Jedi? The force?  
  
Another face appeared, the orange goggle-eyed face of a Calamari, and the high voice said, "Ah, but we will overwhelm him, do you have any family boy? Or anyone we should let know about this?"  
  
"Mother." Harn whispered and tried to nod his head.  
  
"Ahh, what is her name?" the Calamari asked, grabbing a data-pad and typing some things in.  
  
"Elisina" the words leapt to Harn's lips before he could think them, where had that name come from? Wasn't it his mother's? He couldn't remember.  
  
The Calamari nodded her fishy head and typed away at the pad for a moment before turning the screen so Harn could see it. There was a picture on the screen and it was his mother's face.  
  
"Her." Harn affirmed as his eyes shut again and he slipped back into sleep. 


	4. Epilog

-Epilog-  
  
An old human man sat at the bar in a cantina, safe from the glaring heat of Tatooine inside the cool building. His eyes moved constantly though, flickering from place to place to make sure no one could sneak up on him and try to put a blaster-bolt through his head.  
  
His eyes settled on a brown-cloaked figure that seemed to be walking towards him and his hand instantly shifted to the small holdout blaster hidden in his vest pocket.  
  
"Hello, are you the owner of First Sun Spare Parts?" the voice was quiet and peaceful, almost making the man feel silly for even thinking of going for his blaster.  
  
"Aye, what's it to you?" he asked, squinting to see inside the cowl but unable to make out more than a nose and two gleaming eyes.  
  
"I think I caused some trouble to you a few years ago, having to do with a building. I've come to repay you." A quick flick from inside the robes and a small purse landed on the bar, the man's eyes followed it greedily and snatched it off the bar top, turning back to ask what the person had been talking about. But the cloaked figure was gone.  
  
Harn walked down the streets of Tatooine, his lightsabre swaying a little with each step. He was a Jedi Knight now, and he only had a few more stops to make before his 'debts' would be repaid. A small smile played across his face, seen by none because of the hood he wore, he was happy now, and thanks to Master Skywalker, Harn knew he could start doing a little good in the galaxy. 


End file.
